Light Out Of Darkness
by Suicide Saint
Summary: Long after the quest of the ring, Middle Earth is in a state of war and turmoil. Will an unusual alliance and an unexpected weapon be enough to save it? And if so, will the cost be worth the fragile peace it pays for?
1. Cerlindria Speaks

Once upon a time... no, wait. That doesn't work. If I say once upon a time you'll be expecting a fairy tale. With magic and monsters and evil enchanters and brave warriors on a quest. Well, you'll get that, I suppose. However, you'll also want true love, and beauteous heroes and repulsive villains, and you'll probably even want a happy ending. Well, there is love, although some is truer than others, but beauty and ugliness are in the eyes of the beholder, and no ending can be happy for everyone. Endings in themselves are rare enough in tales such as these. So if you turn your head just right and look out of the corner of your eye you may see a whole new story unfolding just under the surface of this fairy-tale beginning. So...  
  
Once upon a time, there was a Ring...  
  
Of course, you already know the tale of the One Ring, or at least you should. You should already know of the Ring's evil and of the brave alliance of beings who sought to bring an end to it. But the tale you have been told is, I believe, a bit different from my own. If you will be better off from having heard this version of events, only time will tell.  
  
My tale is mainly concerned with the events beginning immediately after the Ring's destruction. As you know, before the journey of the Ring began, many peoples of the Elvin race were leaving Middle Earth. However, after the darkness was vanquished this Elvin 'migration' came abruptly to a halt. Instead of fleeing, the Elves hid themselves away in their woodland fortresses, cutting off nearly all contact with the world of men.  
  
I find it strange that so much can be flung into ruin for the sake of preventing a war over such meaningless things as power and control, I find it strange that good lords and ladies of all races and classes can be turned dark by their lust for these things. I find it stranger still when the hearts of some easily undo that which has been done by the wills of many.  
  
We in Higher Earth knew that the war was coming, and we warily watched for the signs of its arrival. But I do believe that none of us other than Fate herself guessed how it would begin...  
  
It was with Men, those who had become the master race of Middle Earth were the first to shed blood merely for hatred of another race. Over time the Elves seclusion caused many fanciful tales to be told of them, likening them to the Gods themselves. The Dwarves, ever sturdy of mind, body, and spirit, wisely dismissed such stories as mere foolishness. They remembered the Elves, with no small amount of annoyance, quite clearly as the ages passed. But they to had become detached from the rest of Middle Earth, and did not bother to tell the Men of the Elvin race, of its flaws and it's triumphs.  
  
So, it was, in their jealousy of the image they had bestowed upon the Elves, the Men who first struck out. They attacked a group of Elves who lived in the mountains by a large town. In retaliation the Elves who survived gathered a small army and destroyed the town and the dwellings surrounding it. This continued for some time, the acts of violence mounting, the Dwarves were involved by a misunderstanding and soon the three great races of Middle Earth were in turmoil.  
  
The final insult to the Elvin kind was the besieging and destruction of peaceful Rivendell, what began as a violent feud became a true war, and the land of Middle Earth, it seemed, was lost to us forever. Until one day, a Fay, reckless and impulsive in her youth, took a risk, a risk that could do more harm than it could do good, a risk that could destroy forever what might only be temporarily broken, a risk that was so stupid, so careless, so foolhardy, that it just might work. It just might be Middle Earth's last hope.  
  
Until I, Cerlindria, tried to make light out of darkness.  
  
You think, as many like you do, that the Ring was destroyed after it was thrown into the fire of Mount Doom. After all, that was as it was supposed to be, but Middle Earth was supposed to be saved from evil as well, but evil can be found in the heart and mind of even the greatest being. It was so with the Ring as well, for it was meant to be destroyed and gone forever from the plains of Middle, Higher, and Lower Earth. But the Gods are overly meddlesome and Fate, it seems, has a twisted sense of humor.  
  
And so it came about that the One Ring was once again placed in the hands of an Innocent, and Fiona Brite was placed in it's tale. 


	2. The Finding of the One

Beginning note: this chapter isn't very good, but I promise the next two will be better, so please read it?  
The first thing I remember feeling that morning was surprise, I knew I was dreaming, and this was unusual because I don't sleep. In the dream, I was reading a book, and coming to the end of the story. But suddenly it grew hard to read and I couldn't understand the words. Nothing was making since, but I had to know the end. Then I couldn't see, so I opened my eyes  
  
And woke up.  
  
Moaning, I looked at my clock. It was blinking 12:00, oh, crap, the power must have gone out last night. I leaped out of bed and promptly tripped over my shoes, regaining my balance I scrambled down stairs into the kitchen. My siblings were eating breakfast, not a good sign.  
  
"What time is it?" I demanded  
  
" Late."  
  
"6:45" Said the twins.  
  
"Too late, for you Fiona." Penelope growled.  
  
I ran to the laundry room and grabbed some clothes. In the bathroom I tried to brush my teeth and get dressed at the same time. There was a knock on the door.  
  
"Fiona, it's Stephen, um, we're leaving, so, are you done?"  
  
"Gimme a second!"  
  
I grabbed a hairbrush, then went to get my backpack. By the time I got out the door, Stephan and the others were already down the street. I ran after them while trying to put the hairbrush in my backpack, then I was on the ground and my hands were burning and papers were strewn in the road. Lifting my head from the asphalt I watched them run away, Stephan and Steven laughing, April zipping to and fro, and Penelope lagging behind, her head down, her shoulders hunched.  
  
With a sigh I picked myself and my homework up off of the road. I took my time, knowing I'll never catch the buss, and began to walk home.  
  
The town I live in is called Gray Harbor, although it's not really a town, more like a village. A little fishing village, where anything worth doing is done on a boat. There are no restaurants in gray harbor, no bookstores, no movie theaters. There's a bate shop, a tavern, a post office, a hardware store, a boat repair shop, several harbors, several more docks, and a tiny grocery store where you go if you don't want to eat fish for dinner again. It's considered very strange to not want to eat fish here.  
  
There's no school in Gray harbor, we have to catch a buss at 7:15 in the morning and ride to the next town over to get our education. It's fifteen minutes from our house to the buss stop, and we're almost always late. Luckily, so is the bus.  
  
"Awww, crap" I muttered.  
  
Halfway back to my house I felt the cold sinking through my faded jeans. Turning in circles like a dog chasing it's tail, I caught hold of my pants and let out a cry of frustion, I d fallen into a puddle, this day just keeps improving.  
  
The road from my house to the bus stop is mostly straight and not so narrow, which makes it easy to run, thank god. But there are lots of little roads branching off of it, on a whim I take one, it begins to rain and I shiver. Did I mention that the two things I hate most in the world are being cold and being wet? So I bet it makes perfect sense that my hobby is swimming in the many little lakes and creeks around here.  
  
Actually, that's where this road leads, to one of my favorite lakes.  
  
Once I reach the lake, I run to the edge of an old dock. Stripping down to my gray sports bra and a pair of Steven's boxers I left the rest of my clothes on the edge of the dock. Gathering my courage I braced myself and leaped off the dock.  
  
Nothing can prepare you for the feeling of being submerged in ice cold water, not even having done it a thousand times before. As I hit the water I curled in a fetal position, it felt like my insides and outsides were frozen and I had ice cream headache all over my body. Unable to gain control of my icy body I sunk like a rock, but I knew I had to surface soon or I never would again. So I found which way was up and swam towards it. I then took gulps of air and waited for my body to stop shivering. The trick with swimming is numbness, you have to be numb enough not to feel though cold, but not so much that you can't feel your limbs. Once you figure out how to do that, you're good to go.  
  
I did a few laps back and forth across the middle of the lake, then I turned over and floated on my back. Lakes are my favorite place to swim because they're so peaceful. I never swim in the ocean, I hate the ocean, I'm terrified of sharks and I get ridiculously seasick when I'm on a boat. When I was little my mom thought I'd get over it, so she took me fishing and wale watching and such as much as possible. That made it worse, which was a shame, because I loved seeing the whales. My mom just loves everything about the natural world, she's so upset when we don't want to go camping in the middle of nowhere for a month, or see a cow get born. She's kind of like a little kid, you just can't bare to say no to her so she usually gets her way.  
  
That's why we're living out here in the first place. My mom and dad both came from rich families, plus he owned a small business and she had inherited her parents' fortune when they died in a car crash. But by the time mom met dad, she had already donated 95% of her money to charities and medical research and that kind of stuff, the other 5% she invested. For dad, it was like love at first sight, and once he figured out how sweet and big-hearted she was, he was hooked. They got married five months later, and by the time she was pregnant, she convinced him to move to a small sweet town where their children could grow up away from the pain and corruption of the city. So, here we are, uncorrupted and bored as hell.  
  
Dipping in and out of the water I nearly giggle out loud. I'm a fishy! I think, and look up at the sky and tread water while I watch the clouds get blown away. It's almost like I've forgotten what a blue sky looks like, now if only it could stay clear tonight so I can see the stars. Eddie always used to love watching the stars, he belonged in the sky with them. He was an angel, my angel, little Eddie star/angel-boy. My hand clasps my necklace, like it always does when I think of Eddie, I role it between my fingers and sing to myself.  
  
"You are my sunshine, my only sunshine you make me happy, when skies are gray. You'll never know dear, how much I love you, please don't. OH CRAP!"  
  
My necklace slipped between my fingers, the clasp presumably broken, with a sound like a million worlds exploding it fell into the water. As quick as I could I dived down after it, the water was colder than I remembered, I couldn't see. My fingers groped in the darkness along the shallow bottom but all I felt was sand and slime. I resurface and gasp in air, my lungs burn and so do my eyes. Diving again I search desperately, but there's probably no hope, in despair I claw the sandy lake bottom, and feel something metal. Grasping it as hard as possible I hauled ass to to the dock. With a triumphant smile I unclench me fist and look down at my necklaces and a small gold ring.  
  
"Well, talk about good luck." Today is definitely gonna be a good day. This is a sign, good stuff's going to happen to me today.  
Ending note: in case you haven't already figured this out, this is original character, alternate universe, it's a good fic, but don't read it if you really hate those things P.S. If characters are immortal, I may put them, Elrond will defiantly be in here soon, do you have requests for anyone else?  
  
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End file.
